travel

Navigate from here to there, the sequel: Magellan 4040 widescreen GPS, $99.99 shipped

Hang on, hang on, hold the phone! I thought yesterday's TomTom GO 510 GPS was a sweet deal at $124.99 (plus shipping and after rebate), but Buy.com just blew that outta the water: You can get a refurbished Magellan 4040 widescreen GPS for just $99.99 shipped, no rebates required.

If memory serves, this is the first widescreen GPS I've seen below the $100 mark. Specifically, it's a 4.3-inch touchscreen, which is way easier on the eyes than the typical 3.5-incher. The Magellan 4040 also features text-to-speech (it announces actual street names), a … Read more

GoPlanit lets you shuffle travel plans like a music playlist

GoPlanit is a service for travelers to find things to do in places they've never been. It removes the need to buy travel books by automatically figuring out your itinerary based on budget, physical health, and how much free time you've got.

The automatic planning feature is only available in a handful of cities, but is quite similar to autofill in Apple's iTunes. Clicking the "plan it" button automatically drops in things to do, and if you don't like one of the picked items you can delete it and get it filled in with … Read more

TravelMuse aims to be the Netflix of traveling

SAN DIEGO--One of the nice things about Web 2.0 is that the interactivity it promises can be applied to almost any kind of application.

That's the basis of TravelMuse's new social trip planning service, which it unveiled at DemoFall Tuesday.

The idea of the so-called Social Trip Planner is that a group of people expecting to travel together can use a rich Web site to plan and organize their vacation and share information about what they're doing amongst each other easily and automatically.

The service starts with what the company calls its "inspiration planner," … Read more

83: BMW is building the wrong engines

Honda has a new Insight, BMW is building the wrong engines, Ford spreads the navigation love, and we drive BMW's new DCT. Listen now: Download today's podcast SHOW NOTES

• New Honda Insight -- or is that a Prius?

• BMW's DCT gearbox

• Lexus LS460 goes AWD. Why?

• Navigon 2200T GPS offers free traffic data for life

Buy a Dell notebook, get a Dell Mini for $99

Today, Dell launched the much-anticipated Inspiron Mini 9 netbook (a.k.a. mini-note, ultra-note, or whatever we're calling this category). Tomorrow, you'll be able to score one for just $99 with the purchase of a Studio 15, XPS M1530, or XPS M1330 notebook. This according to Dell's own blog.

The Mini joins teeny portables like the Asus Eee PC and Acer Aspire One in offering basic computing in an ultra-light, ultra-compact package. It's available exclusively with Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux and solid-state storage (up to 16GB). CNET hasn't done a full review yet, but … Read more

The site that might help you sleep with a psychopath

There is nothing like a good idea to get you out of bed in the morning. So here's one I just stumbled across that will help you get into bed at night. It's called Airbedandbreakfast.com.

The idea, created by Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, is a delightfully San Francisco affair. Apparently, Gebbia and Chesky noticed that there was a design conference in San Francisco and that all the hotels were full.

I don't exactly know how you notice that all the hotels in a city are full. Perhaps it's the stream of well-dressed people wearing … Read more

Get an iPod/iPhone FM transmitter for free (after rebate)

If you want to listen to your iPod or iPhone in your car, you have precious few options. You can spring for a pricey stereo dock that requires pricey installation. You can use one of those tape-deck adapters, assuming your car is old enough to have a tape deck. Or, you can try an FM transmitter, which broadcasts audio from your player to an unused band on your stereo. Buy.com has such a product, the aptly named Av Lab iPod/iPhone FM Transmitter, for free after a mail-in rebate [PDF].

Compatible with most iPod and iPhone models, the transmitter … Read more

Southwest Airlines CEO crowdsources his Halloween costume

A few years ago, it was trendy and "transparent" for CEOs to have their own blogs. But typically it didn't go this far--then again, Southwest Airlines chief Gary Kelly isn't your average CEO.

Kelly posted an entry on the Southwest blog on Tuesday asking readers to contribute to an annual poll he hosts: What should he dress up as for Halloween? Kelly has been known to go all-out, and provided photo evidence of past costumes that included Hairspray drag queen Edna Turnblad, Pirates of the Caribbean's Captain Jack Sparrow, and painted-up Kiss bassist Gene Simmons.… Read more

How Trekkies will soon be able to experience warp drive

Star Trek fans, you'd better sit down.

Because there are scientists out there, out there in Texas, to be precise, who believe that you will soon be able to propel yourselves at warp speed.

Alright, I'm not going to put a time frame on the 'soon'. Because, well, what is time anyway? Merely one dimension of our truly warped lives.

But here's the idea that Dr. Gerald Cleaver, Associate Professor of Physics at Baylor and his Associate Associate, Richard Obousy (I have not located a picture of this man, but he is reputed to have elongated ears) … Read more

Class action suit means Facebook's Beacon just won't go away

A class action lawsuit filed earlier this week targets Facebook and eight of the participants in Beacon, its ill-fated advertising product that shared information about third-party site activity with the social network. The set of 20 plaintiffs, mostly residents of Texas, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday. Named as defendants are Facebook, as well as current or former Beacon participants Blockbuster, Fandango (owned by Comcast), Overstock.com, STA Travel, Zappos, Hotwire (owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp), and GameFly.

A Facebook representative told CNET News on Thursday that the company had … Read more